Horror Noire, Robin R. Means Coleman
Horror Noire, Robin R. Means Coleman
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Horror Noire
A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present 2nd Edition

Author: Robin R. Means Coleman

Narrator: Julienne Irons

Unabridged: 17 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/16/2023


Synopsis

From King Kong to Candyman, the boundary-pushing genre of horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. This book offers a comprehensive chronological survey of Black horror from the 1890s to present day.

In this second edition, Robin R. Means Coleman expands upon the history of notable characterizations of Blackness in horror cinema, with new chapters spanning the 1960s, 2000s, and 2010s to the present, and examines key levels of Black participation on screen and behind the camera. The book addresses a full range of Black horror films, including mainstream Hollywood fare, art-house films, Blaxploitation films, and US hip-hop culture-inspired Nollywood films. This edition also explores the resurgence of the Black horror genre in the last decade, examining the success of Jordan Peele's films Get Out and Us, smaller independent films such as The House Invictus, and Nia DaCosta's sequel to Candyman. Means Coleman argues that horror offers a unique representational space for Black people to challenge negative or racist portrayals, and to portray greater diversity within the concept of Blackness itself.

This book is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand how fears and anxieties about race and race relations are made manifest, and often challenged, on the silver screen.

About Robin R. Means Coleman

Robin R. Means Coleman is vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer, and Ida B. Wells and Ferdinand Barnett Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. Her books include African Americans and the Black Situation Comedy: Situating Racial Humor, and the edited collection Say It Loud! African Americans, Media and Identity, along with the coedited volume Fight the Power! The Spike Lee Reader and the coauthored Intercultural Communication for Everyday Life. Her documentary Horror Noire won the 2020 Rondo Hatton Award for Best Documentary and the 2019 FearNyc Trailblazer Award.


Reviews

"Horror films come out of the imaginations of a diverse cadre of image-makers." The documentary Horror Noire was one of the best things I watched last year, and I was very excited to learn that it was based on a book. This book is very well-researched and informative, and I learned about a lot of mo......more

Coleman's Horror Noire offers a fascinating exploration of race in American culture through an examination of the roles Blacks played in front of and behind the camera in horror films from the 1890s through the late 2000s. Coleman, who's a professor in both the department of Communication Studies an......more

Goodreads review by Allyssa

A wonderful history on Black American Horror movies... I learned so much from this book. I will keep coming back to this again and again, not only for the history provided but for the thought provoking commentary. Not to mention the list of movies to watch!......more

Goodreads review by Brystan

If this were a class I would absolutely enroll. This text was a lot more dense than I was expecting it to be so I really appreciated the conclusion sections at the end of each chapter to recap - just to make sure I caught everything. This books is PACKED with information so I foresee myself going ba......more

Goodreads review by Tati

Leitura bem interessante, dá pra aprender muito sobre o contexto de produção de muitos filmes desde a invenção do cinema e como eles se encaixam em questões sociais como racismo, homofobia e misoginia.......more